


And Meet You At Road's End

by TwilightKnight17



Series: Shuake Confidant Week 2018 [3]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Bad Ending, M/M, Oops, went with the obvious on this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 03:59:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16468271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightKnight17/pseuds/TwilightKnight17
Summary: One last plea, one last chance. It’s not enough, in the end, no matter how much they wish things were different.[Bad Ending]





	And Meet You At Road's End

**Author's Note:**

> October 31st, Day Three: Neglect/Rejection/ **Death**

When the door opened, far too soon, Akira knew he had failed.

He’d done everything he could to get Niijima-san to listen to him, but apparently in the end it wasn’t enough. Just like he’d done everything he could to convince his detective that they could help him, and that wasn’t enough either. His only solace, as the door opened and Akechi stepped into the interrogation room, was that he hadn’t heard a gunshot, and that Akechi actually looked surprised to see the state he was in.

“My poor thief,” Akechi murmured. He was holding a gun with a silencer attached, but he didn’t raise it. Instead he walked over and pressed his free hand to Akira’s cheek. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Where’s the guard?” Akira asked, leaning into the touch.

“I sent him away,” Akechi replied, his thumb brushing over a purpling bruise. “You don’t seem very surprised to see me.”

Hearing that the guard was gone and not dead caused a wave of relief to wash over Akira. He really hadn’t heard a gunshot. Maybe there was still a chance that this wouldn’t end badly. “I knew,” he said softly. “We knew what you were planning. We had a plan to avoid it, but well… I guess Niijima-san didn’t think I was very convincing.”

Akechi’s merlot eyes widened with surprise. “You knew? And you still…” Akira knew what he was thinking. He was thinking back to all the quiet evenings in Leblanc, movie dates, kisses in a dimly-lit attic. Probably wondering how Akira could be so stupid as to get close to his murderer. But Akira had been optimistic. He still was.

“I did,” he said, hyper-aware of how the gun was still loose in Akechi’s other hand. He was still alive, and that meant Akechi might waver. “I never lied to you, Goro. We can help you. If you help me get out of here, and tell us who’s behind all of this… Because it has to be someone. I know you wouldn’t kill anyone on your own.”

“I’m beyond help,” Akechi said lightly, shaking his head. “After everything that I’ve done? There’s no happiness for me, Akira. There’s no salvation, as much as you want to offer it.”

“Goro—”

“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Akechi continued, his hand running down Akira’s arm to trace raw skin and the cold handcuffs linking his wrists. “They were just supposed to question you, not torture you. I never wanted to see you hurt. It...was supposed to be quick. Painless.”

Akira flipped his hand over to grab Akechi’s, lacing their fingers together. “You don’t have to do this. We can end things, together, you and me, and then we can build something new. Something better.”

“Don’t you get it?” Akechi murmured, and his eyes had gone flat and empty with despair. “It doesn’t matter now. Maybe if I had met you a few years earlier, but now it’s too late. No matter how much I love you, it’s not enough to save you. No matter how much you love me… it’s not enough to save me. Love doesn’t fix everything.”

“I can’t change your mind?” Akira asked, and when Akechi shook his head again, he lifted the detective’s hand back to his face and nuzzled his palm. “At least tell me why, then.”

Akechi smiled at the affectionate gesture. “...my father,” he said after a moment. “My father is a monster. He has destroyed so many lives, including mine. My mother killed herself, because of him. And so I am going to destroy him in return. I’ll see him grovel and die for his crimes, and then…”

“And then?” Akira prompted.

“It will be finished,” Akechi said. “There’s no future after that. Not for me. Not with my sins.” He looked over his shoulder at the closed door, then back at Akira. “At least like this...it’s almost a mercy. I know you; being imprisoned would kill you slowly.” He swallowed hard. “Close your eyes, Akira. It will just be a moment.”

Akira took a deep breath. Cuffed as he was, he couldn’t fight Akechi off. And what would he do if he could? If he could take the gun, somehow? Shoot him? No, he couldn’t bear the idea. And Akechi certainly wouldn’t go with him quietly. Not after all of this. He couldn’t risk putting his friends in danger. He couldn’t risk them not learning who was using Akechi.

He’d known what he was getting into the moment they finalized the plan. He’d known his odds and decided to roll the dice, and in the end, he hadn’t won. But he’d weighted things for the next roll, so that his friends would still have a chance to win where he wouldn’t.

And so Akira slowly closed his eyes, and heard Akechi sigh shakily.

“I’ll come and meet you, when everything is over. I wish things could have been different,” Akechi whispered, and Akira couldn’t help but lean into the featherlight press of lips on his.

“I do, too,” he replied, and felt the cold kiss of the gun’s barrel against his forehead. “Hey, Goro? I lo—”

The gun went off with a muffled crack, and Akira Kurusu’s words died with him.

***

Goro made it through his phone call with Shido, made it out of the precinct, even managed to smile at two fans who recognized him on the train back to his apartment, despite internally being in ruins. But the second his apartment door closed behind him he sagged against it, hands covering his mouth to ward off the wave of nausea that threatened to overwhelm him.

He’d brought this on himself. Of course he had; he’d gotten too close, and in the end he’d had to make a choice where there hadn’t been one before. And he knew he’d chosen the easy way out. He’d picked Shido over Akira. He’d picked victory and revenge and a concrete ending over an uncertain future and a happiness that he didn’t deserve.

He’d killed the one person that had ever cared for him unconditionally.

It would be okay. Just another month, and the election would be over. Shido would be at the top, poised for Goro to push him off. He could watch the man that had killed his mother burn. And then…

He pulled the silencer from inside his jacket and laughed weakly.

“Just a little longer, Akira. I’ll see you soon.”

**Author's Note:**

> A gun: *exists in a sad scene*  
>  Me: **:3c**
> 
> Pretty sure I’m 4 for 4 on writing something emotionally rough and including a gun. Bleh. But, hey, with a prompt like this, it was a good excuse to get some sads out of my system.
> 
> The silencer at the end was almost the chess piece, but then I didn't.


End file.
